Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-08-28

equivalent to an acknowledgment on my
part that I am willing to listen to you, "
said Mary.
81 should write SO absurdly in English
lat least correspondence of q certain kind.
/ will write science" said Ole, with a
4 smile.
"But Mr.. Swenson, 1t would not be
science" said Mary, demurely.
''Won't 1t be? How do you know? l
viii write sagas, then, in the style OF the
arabian Nights, with but one moral, the
obduracy of women, or of woman who
would not tell her own mind, and you shall
correct nv defects of style" But Mary
| Acton was in no playful mood. "Win
You give me your aunt's address, or must
| / wear myself out in finding your" said
Ole Swenson; and still the young woman
hesitated.
1.-THE fog has blown away, Miss Acton.
Tell me at once that may not write you,
and will understand that it Is all over
with me- You give me no answer? Dare
you go down to the boat? My dory is tied
10 the pier"
Dared she 60? She was hatless. She
1 oPcbaAAo Iko IL lOt- hCA hhpf nhu
not coming down break it all off at once.
II will wait ten minutes in the room
here, Miss Acton, and then, if you do not
come, II will 90. What fool ! was to
think that you might care for mew
Mary took Annie by the hand, scarcely
bending her head to Ollie. She might have
returned to tell him b ow impossible it all
was, when the clerk at the Office called
out, Miss Acton, a telegraphic message
for You" He put an envelop into her
trembling hand, nd she was hurrying of,
There is q parcel for you too; came by ex-
press last night. Wait one instant till /
get il ont of the safe" Mary took small
package and went up the stairs. In her
own room she glanced at the package.
Was it possible? The pin was in her hand.
She laid it on the table There was time
enough to send the pin downstairs. She
tore open the enveiop. Mr.. Lane would
be at the hotel by the cary morning train.
That would bring hiuPto the house in an
hour from now. What was in the package?
Mr.. Lane had told her of patterns for cur
tains. Yes, there they were; red, blue,
green. What were eolors or designs to her?
She let the parcel fall on the floor, but then
there tumbled out q small morocco case.
It contained ring, i'll which was set
sue-paper. The words written were brief:
''Will Miss Mary Acton wear this-be my
wife, another to my Annie?" Then came
her trial. She would not let Annie see her
trouble. So the child was sent into the
hall. Five minutes fled. 1t
was all clear and beautiful without now.
and Mary could see the Josieanna standing
mile or more out to sea. What strange,
unknown life to her, having its novelty,
that would be, if she ever sailed on that
vessel again! 1t had its amusing side; and
then the dull, humdrum existence, mar
ried to man utterly uncongenial to her,
and more than double her age! She with
out o spark of love for Mr.. Lane-an
Iphigenia sacrifice for q few mortal COM
forts! Who was there depending on her?
No one. 1t was the others cheerfulness,
gayety, his straight forward honesty, that
struck her fancy. His voice, his violin,
were nothing. They were the simple ac-
cidents, the merest adiuncts, that helped
to make him accomplished. Two minutes
more were left, and the pin and the ring
were side by side. This was no act in the
Merchant of JIeniee, for she was Portia, with
her eyes wide open. What were in the
caskets were disclosed. How good looking
he was! Was he twenty-five or twenty
seven? and the other? What mattered it
to her if men had their hands sunburnt
and their finger-nails worn to the quick by
honest toll! When he had plunged his
arms in the bucket for the sea-weed there
were no tattoo marks on them. The
minutes were leeting fast. She looked
again out of the window. Did the watch
of that fisherman's mate vary from hers?
Why had he not given her a moments
grace? With his head bent down, Ole was
walking rapidly to the pier. Was he not
cruel, inclined to abuse his power over
her? Now she recognized that her will
was weakening. Suppose he had staid an
hour, two hours, more, might not the re-
suit, as far as she was concerned, have been
the same? Mr.. Lanes coming would have
only precipitated matters. Oh, the dread
full thiHg!-one poor girl with two offers Of
marriage on the same day!
There was shortcut across the sands
You had to scrape through narrow turn
stile, and for once the short. cut was not
the longer way. What cared Mary for hat
or shawl?
~ have come, Mr.. Swenson, toto
to-" But she said nothing more, for all
voice had left her. Ole Swenson put out
his hand, and she took it.
Poor, poor darling, and with nothing
on your headw and Ole took off his black
silk scarf and put it over her head, and
tied the long ends under her chin, and she
let him do it. "And is it all over now?"
he said, soothingly; land may kiss you?
and is this our aunt's address? and pray
don't cry, or l shall be miserably unhappy,
and am so full of joy! But / must leave
you now, and have ten thousand things
to say to you, Mary, but l must be off,"
and he kissed her again and again. II
write every day" and he got into his boat
aud pulled out to sea.
Now that it was done, the girls spirits
rose. To meet Mr.. Lane was a matter of
utter indifference to her. She would not
mince matters. That was not her way.
Why, when Mr.. Lane came to her, did he
assume the manners Of man who consid-
cred her acceptance Of him as an accom-
plished fact? There was some deliberate
ness about the way Mary drew off her
gloves, and showed him hand without
ring on it. He seemed to expect that
there would be particular ring there,
for he looked quite intently at her hand
Perhaps, Miss Mary---perhaps the ring
was too large 1t couldn't have been too
small, for Mrs. Sterling had very kindly
given me the exact measure" said Mr..
Lane.
81 never tried it on, SIR" replied Mary
'Mr. Lane, your proposal honors me; but,
Mr.. Lane, cannot be your wife. love
another man." 1t was the first time Mary
had ever said that aloud, and she was
little bit amazed that her voice did not
quake. Quite to the contrary, she found
the uttersnce of these words was easy to
her.
"How can that be, Miss Mary? Mrs
Sterling assured me that YOUR affections